Jane Stuart Thompson
Immigrant, Pioneer, Mother of 9, Healer
Jane was the great-grandmother of my Father’s mother, Maryneal Gore
She was born July 5th, 1820 in Greensheels, in Antrim County, Ireland. Her grandfather and uncle were doctors in Belfast and her father was the eldest son and had inherited the family estate. Jane’s mother was distantly, but directly, related to the royal line of Scotland: the Stuarts. Based on the history in Ireland at the time I believe both Jane’s parents and grandparents were Scottish, not Irish. I will write more about this and the royal lineage at a later date.
When Jane was a small child, her father sold the estate to his brother William and took his family to America. I’m not sure why he made this decision, but maybe he decided to take his chances at fortune in America. The family sailed to America twice. The first trip was when Jane was a child, I do not know the dates, but her granddaughter Mabel tells this story:
“On their first trip they were on a sailing vessel for three months, because they drifted so far south in the trade winds. The women had to do their washing on board the vessel and hang it out to dry. They also did their own cooking, and food became very scarce. There was great excitement when they stopped at Liverpool. Mary Ann, a small daughter nine years old, had been sent to deliver a package on shore. When she tried to return to the boat, she lost her way. There was great concern when she did not return. Finally the boat could not wait any longer. Her parents were frantic. And just as the plank was about to be raised, she appeared. A gentleman recognized her, as he had seen her on the boat, and returned her just in time.”
“The family had not been here (America) very long when Alexander (Jane’s father) took sick and the doctor said “he must have a trip upon the ocean and go to his old home,” so the family decided to go back home to Ireland for his health. In the middle of the ocean he got well.”
The second trip to America was in 1834, when Jane was 14. At first the family settled in Boston; later they moved to Trenton, New Jersey, and their eldest daughter married there. In 1839 the family moved west and settled near Carrolton, Illinois. Carrolton is where Jane met her future husband, Edwin.
“She did house work in Carrolton, Illinois and met her husband to be, Edwin Gore there. He came over to the house she worked at to get a cow the man he worked for had bought. Thus they met.” - Mabel Gore
Edwin and Jane married on January 26th, 1843 when she was 22 and he was 26. They had 9 children, between Jane’s ages of 23 to 39.
Soon after they married, Jane and Edwin bought land and started their own farm in what is now known as Kilborne, Illinois. The family farm was about 3.5 miles away from the present-day downtown area, which did not exist until 1870. They built a log cabin, and for the first summer they cooked outside. For some time the cabin had no door or windows. They built a schoolhouse on their farm and had church there on Sundays. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Edwin bought all the hymn books for the church and he took them home each time they were used in a pillowslip (maybe to keep them safe).
A map of Greensheels. On the left page at the bottom you can see the name #8 WM Thompsom (WM is shorthand for William). On the right page you can see William’s land: No 8 in the middle/right of the map where the last S of Greensheels is. The Estate is gone, the land is just green pasture now.
Jane and one of her sisters
Knew Abraham Lincoln
“Jane Thompson Gore remembered Abe Lincoln well. He helped cut timber off their land and stayed at their home. They thought he wouldn't amount to anything. All he was good for was splitting rails. He was not good with the oxen. He "took to books" and used to come sit by the fireplace and read.”
- Mabel Gore
Thomas Edwin Gore, Jane’s son, remembered riding on Lincoln's boot when he was a boy (sitting on his foot/boot while he walked).
Out on the frontier they grew and made almost everything they needed. They grew cotton and made their own clothes. Jane made salves and medicines and cared for the sick and wounded in the area.
“Jane also made various medicines from roots, leaves, etc. “Grandma gave medicines to the sick neighbors. Dr. Root was a rough old man and did not like to find Jane had preceded him in calling on his patients.”
- Mabel Gore
Jane lived a long life, and all her children grew up and had children of their own, which was very rare for those times when many children died young. It is a tribute to her skills in caring for the sick. Her husband Edwin died in an accident when he was 43, I do not know the details of the accident. Their youngest daughter was only 4 months old at the time. Jane raised the children on her own after Edwin passed. I’m sure her oldest child Fanny, who was 16, helped a lot with the children, but her oldest son was only 12 at the time so I’m sure the first few years without Edwin were difficult.
Jane lived with her son John Wesley Gore for the rest of her life. She lived with him and his young family in the second home Edwin built on their land in Kilborn; a large sturdy white farmhouse. Later she moved with John and his family to Redlands, California in the 1890's.
Jane died on April 4th, 1904 when she was 83 years old.